Gods
The Gods are an ancient and highly advanced race that once ruled the Known Universe. Born when Celestials from the Highplane incarnated in bodies made from the dust of the Midplane, they fought with the Devils for control and eventually sealed them into Hell. The bodies they crafted for themselves were perfect, possessing super human strength and durability. They possess virtually unlimited psychic powers which enabled them to stretch their consciousness across the cosmos. All this was boosted by their Auras which gave them the power to destroy a planet single handedly. An untold number of Clans of Gods emerged into the Midplane to battle the Devils, each carving out a large empire for themselves. However, many fell at the hands of the more powerful Devils, and even more were slaughtered by Satan himself shortly before his defeat at the hands of Bahamut. While the Dragon Clan managed to survive and spread out into the former empires of some of these exterminated Clans and become the rulers of the Known Universe, they never truly believed they were the only ones left. Indeed in the furthest reaches of space other Clans still exist, isolated from eachother and ruling their own Kingdoms. Some of these Clans are comprised of the same gods who first emerged in the Midplane, while others have gone through successive generations. 'Physiology' The Gods are shapeshifters able to assume almost any form they please, though most preferred a humanoid form of some kind. In all forms the gods possessed glowing white eyes. In any form, the gods possessed unrivaled powers of strength, speed and durability, and a regenerative healing factor to quickly recover from any damage they do take. They ceased to age upon reaching adulthood, were immune to disease, did not need to breathe, eat, or rest, and could not be killed through conventional means. The Gods were truly immortal in that, barring accident, they would live forever. The tissues of all Gods are harder and more resilient than those of a human, granting them superhuman durability. The average God, both male and female, can withstand extreme temperatures and high impacts without sustaining injury. It is possible for them to be injured, but the nature of their bodies will enable them to heal with much greater speed than mortals. The average God can repair injuries that result in severe lacerations and loss of blood within a brief period of time without any scarring. More extensive injuries require a longer healing time. Severe injuries, such as severed limbs, can be magically regenerated if the injured God receives treatment within a short period of time after the injury. However, any God can die if a significant portion of his or her bodily molecules are scattered. Owing to their advanced physiology, gods don't need to eat, drink, or sleep, and often times their Aura recharges quicker than they're able to expend it. However, a god that has suffered an extraordinary amount of damage or has used more power than they were able to quickly recharge would need to take time to recover. Reproduction among the gods was a bit unique. In most cases the child would gestate inside the mother until it developed enough to be born, but on some occasions the mother would give birth to an egg that would later hatch to reveal the new godling. The Gods could (and did) mate with members of lower races, resulting in many breeds of demi-gods. Depending on the race, the pregnancy period of a baby god could last anywhere from 2 years as one legend suggests, to almost immediate in the case of gods breeding with eachother. 'Powers' The Gods were among the most powerful races to ever exist in the galaxy. Even the weakest of them possessed a powerful physiology many times that of mortal races. In addition to their physical abilities, the Gods possessed virtually unlimited psychic powers of telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation and telekinesis. Their telepathy was finely honed enough to allow them to control entire populations of weak races from across the reaches of space, or in battle to read an opponent to be able to tell what they were going to do. By concentrating on something a god could instantly know all that could be known about it, so long as it was not hidden from his attention. By concentrating on any place, a god could instantly teleport there unless he was otherwise blocked by some other power. Through the use of telekinesis the Gods could animate objects from across vast distances. They are able to rearrange molecules to create objects out of thin air or change the nature of other objects. Like mortal races, the Gods’ powers were fueled by their Auras but to a far greater degree. Using these, the Gods could amplify their physical or psychic powers, fly, and project energy to a wide variety of effects. Prior to the emergence of the Oversaran, the Gods were the only known race to possess SS-Class power. At full charge, a god possessed enough power to destroy a medium sized planet. 'Personality' While the over all personalities of the Gods tended to vary between the different Clans and in many cases from god to god, there were certain unifying traits. They are hyper intelligent beings, and most of them exceedingly so. Some were ambivalent to the fates of mortals and others working to either support them or destroy them. Being stronger, faster, smarter, and possessing longer life than mortal races, gods tended to consider themselves to be superior creatures. For good gods, this could only mean they often considered mortal races as children, trying to take care of them and educate them. For evil gods, at best they considered mortals minions and slaves; at worst they were mere animals or toys to play with. The longevity of gods was evident in their often lackadaisical attitudes. Benevolent gods, while concerned with defeating evil, were able to see a much broader scope of things, and although certain crises arose that may seem extremely important to mortals, the gods were able to see the event as an unimportant hiccup that would pass in mere centuries. On the occasions when gods would adventure with mortals, they tended show a sense of incredible patience, even in situations where all others felt they didn’t have a second to lose. Similarly, malicious gods that were crossed by belligerent mortals would plot for dozens of generations before exacting revenge on the trespasser’s line. It was not uncommon for those descended from the offender to find themselves the target of a God based simply on their lineage. Gods were known to have egos proportionate with their power and importance. Few tolerated mere mortals behaving beyond their station, treating gods as equals, or not showing proper respect or reverence. Attempts by mortals to coerce or intimidate a god would nearly always result in some form of divine punishment. Mortals who meddled with the gods were usually dealt with harshly in order to provide examples for others. On the other hand, most gods enjoyed flattery or anything else that complimented their idea of their superiority, but were quick to see through the motives of those attempting to placate them. 'Culture & Society' The Gods are one of the most ancient and highly advanced races in the entire universe. Immortal beings of supreme power, they also possess arcane technology so advanced its workings are incomprehensible to lesser beings. While particulars of their culture vary from Clan to Clan, the Gods typically live in a pocket dimension from which they can view their entire galaxy. Within this pocket dimension the Gods will live on a constructed world or worlds, typically sprawled with dazzling cities. There the gods themselves will live in palatial estates, with their needs attended by either their automated technology or mortal slaves drawn from their subject worlds, often both. In most cases the Gods' societies are structured as monarchies where one has managed to achieve dominance over the others through either power or status. This supreme god will usually delegate authority to the others at a rank akin to feudal lords, who will in turn delegate it even more to lower Gods who act as their lieutenants. While attempts to raise in station are expected, and in rare cases even rewarded, by and large a God will not tolerate insubordination by those beneath them and will violently punish those who offend. So large is the power gap between the gods in some groups that in many cases lesser gods will not dare challenge their elders. In most cases a God can do whatever they please anyway, and will not risk this freedom by angering their superiors. Attempts to overthrow the leaders are not unheard of, such as when the Celestial Dragon Adam was slain by his son Strife, who was in turn overthrown by his son Crash, but these are rarely successful. Crash himself faced a threat to his rule when his sister Shiva lead the other Dragons against him, but he managed to defeat her and hold onto his throne. Owing to their long lives, most Gods will typically find an ideal and devote themselves to it in order to prevent themselves to prevent them from falling into apathy and stagnation. Indeed almost all gods possess an overriding wish to “change the universe” for either better or worse. This contributes to the Gods leading an energetic existence in comparison to other immortal races such as the Omnians. The overall cultures of the Gods will differ depending on the whims of their leader, but in many cases the Gods themselves are highly hedonistic and debaucherous. Gods are typically highly indulgent and ruled by their passions. They will throw themselves fully into whatever they do, whether it be fighting, loving, creating, destroying, etc. Despite this, the Gods regard themselves and their culture as superior to mortals and will often mock mortals with the same vices as themselves, and will punish entire populations for such behavior. Many mortals have learned to their peril what a great offense it is to a God for a mortal to liken himself to them or infer anything other than the idea that the Gods are superior. In almost all cases the Gods will rule an interstellar empire spanning the Galaxy where they live, having conquered it when the Universe was young and maintaining control down through the eons. They will generally have some oversight of the mortals in their empires, though the degree to which varies widely between the clan. For instance the Dragons were somewhat absent custodians of their galaxy on most occasions, appearing at times to enforce their tribute or to destroy what they saw as an emerging threat to their rule. The Angels on the other hand maintain a tight grip on their Galaxy, being a somewhat constant presence to the mortals to enforce devotion to the Source. In other cases, the gods tired of their Galaxy and retreated to their pocket dimension, leaving the mortals to their own devices. 'Religion' The Gods did not possess anything akin to religion per se, but possessed an awareness of the Highplane and the beings that existed there. The race of Gods had their origin as Celestials, angelic beings that attended to the Source, which as its name implies is the origin of all that is, was or ever will be. At a time when the fledgling universe was in great danger, the Source charged some of the Celestials with descending to the Material Plane to bring order, and there were many volunteers for this task. They shed their Celestial essences and took on bodies made from the dust of the Midplane. In becoming physical beings, they maintained a degree of their Celestial power, but lost the ability to truly comprehend the ethereal. Successive generations of gods possessed ancestral memory, so they were vaguely aware of their origins and of the reality of the Source, even if they could not truly grasp it in their current state. Many of the Gods treated the Highplane and its denizens as curiosities, but were ultimately uninterested in them because of their inability to directly affect them. Unlike the Celestials and to a degree the First Gods, the successive generations of Gods saw no reason to revere the Source, instead deciding to celebrate their own greatness as the most powerful beings in the Midplane. Their desire to impose order on the Galaxy was more for their own glory than to fulfill the mission given to the first Gods by the Source. Of the different clans the only ones known to still revere the Source are the Angels. 'Clans' Countless Celestials volunteered to descend to the Midplane and became the first race of Gods. They emerged across the Universe, shaping their bodies based on the Devils they observed and grouped together into Clans. Hundreds of thousands of Clans went to war with the Devils and their demon hoards, founding kingdoms of their own and creating gleaming cities from which they would conduct their campaigns. As the war went on, some Clans were overcome and slaughtered by their Devil enemies, others fought amongst themselves over territory they had seized. However, their greatest catastrophe came towards the end of the War, when Satan himself, impressed with the Gods' successes against his Devils, decided to find a suitable opponent from among their numbers. He rampaged across the Universe, butchering all the gods he came across looking for someone who could stand up to him. It is unknown how many Clans were singlehandedly wiped out by him, but when he was finally defeated and the barrier was raised, the Dragon Clan went looking for other survivors and found only empty palaces and broken corpses. It would not be until they had ruled the Known Universe for eons that they finally encountered another Clan which had been living out in the Edge. Today it is unknown how many Clans remain, but they are believed to be few and widely spread out. Of these, only a handful are known. 'The Dragons' The Dragon Clan was known to be a short-tempered, lusty, partying lot, more chaotic than any other known Clan of Gods. They were originally lead by a powerful god called Bahamut, who sacrificed his life to seal Satan and passed his authority off on his lieutenant Adam. Adam created a mate named Eve, and with her begat a new generation of Gods. However, Adam was killed by his son Strife, who was not interested in bringing order to the Galaxy and instead chose to revel in chaos. With his sister Asura, he sired a third generation of Gods, and fearing they would kill him as he killed his father he swallowed each of them upon their birth. Severely distressed, Asura sought out her mother Eve, who had fled after Strife killed Adam. She entrusted Eve with her sixth child, a son called Crash, and tricked her husband into consuming a stone instead. Eve raised Crash to be a great warrior, who upon reaching maturity freed his siblings and slew his father. In his zeal to overthrow the Elder Gods, Crash turned his rage on his mother and grandmother. Mortified at the monster her grandson had become, Eve cursed Crash and his siblings to lose control of their power till it destroyed them. As their bodies were twisted into hideous fusions of their dragon and humanoid forms, Crash saved himself and the others by creating a method by which they would seal away 4/5ths of their power. Afterwards Crash, who had by now established himself as the strongest of his siblings, declared himself God King and took his most beautiful sister Shiva as his wife. He divided the Galaxy into 4 Kingdoms, giving the North and South to his brothers Drown and Cloak respectively, and the East and West to his sisters Agni and Rudra. The Dragon Gods ruled the Galaxy for countless eons until they were all but wiped out in an event known as the Cataclysm. 'The Angels' Unlike other Clans of Gods, the Angels do not accept the worship of their mortal charges, instead enforcing adoration of the Source. While the Angels possess the same shape shifting powers as other gods, their preferred form is of that of transcendently beautiful humanoids with mighty feathered wings on their backs. Lead by the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, the Angels took a very aggressive strategy agains the Devils. Fortunately for them, the Demon Lords there were comparatively weak and they had little problem driving them to the Underplane. Their only great trial came when a roving Satan emerged in their midst and wiped out a great number of them. Remembering Michael from their days as Celestials, he engaged him in combat but quickly became bored. When the other Archangels managed to come to Michael’s aid and make their escape, Satan got bored and moved on. Afterward erecting the dimensional barrier in Andromeda, the Angels set about conquering the mortal life and unifying them into a galaxy spanning empire dedicated to worship of the Source which has lasted to the present day. Eons ago, the Angels succeeded in making contact with the Dragons in the Milky Way Galaxy. Upon discovering that the Dragons did not revere the Source, the Angels attempted to launch a Crusade against them. This Crusade was obliterated upon first contact, and the Angels were forced to retreat when their leader Michael was defeated by the God King Crash. 'The Djinn' The Djinn are another Clan which exists out in the Edge of the Universe, and have the appearance of blue skinned humanoids. The Clan was founded by a god called Ramuh, who fathered two other children Aban and Akasha in a manner similar to how Satan created Sin and Adam created Eve. These two in turn sired Ifrit and Undine. Ifrit and Undine's lust for eachother overwhelmed them and they coupled unceasingly until separated by their father. The products of this union were Oliander, Ariel, Fenrir, and Crysta. These 9 were referred to as the Great Djinn, or High Djinn, and from them all other Djinn descended. The Djinn were successful during the War at the Dawn, but when Satan went on his rampage and began culling Gods, Ramuh gathered his Clan and they fled far out into the Edge. When the barrier was erected and the Devils were exiled, the Djinn once again exerted their influence and built themselves a powerful kingdom where they would rule over mortal races. They were eventually encountered by the Angels, but managed to strike an uneasy truce with them.